Serious skaters tame ice

By Sean Barron

Skating Club of Greater Younstown

Gallery

The Skating Club of Greater Youngstown, Saturday January 16, 2009. Ice Zone Boardman.

BOARDMAN — Ali Metz’s desire to become an Olympic ice skater began to take form and solidify a few years ago at a birthday party.

“My dad thinks I’ll be really good at age 15, and I’m really looking forward to that,” said 11-year-old Ali of Greenville, Pa.

Ali, who started skating just two years ago, slipped into a succession of colorful costumes for her turns on the ice during a two-day competition that got under way Saturday at the Ice Zone, 360 McClurg Road. The Skating Club of Greater Youngstown is hosting the event, which continues from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown.

An estimated 120 skaters age 5 to 55 on six teams are taking part in the competition, which features 168 dance, stroking, freestyle and other events at all levels. Besides the Youngstown club, the other teams are the Ice Zone; Center Ice, North Park and Robert Morris University, all of Pittsburgh; and Columbus-based Chiller.

Competitors had 60 to 90 seconds each to perform a solo routine to music in their events before a 15-judge panel and earned points for their teams. Trophies are to go to the top finishers.

Ali, who already had three gold medals draped around her neck by early afternoon, recalled watching friends skate during a birthday party at a rink in New Castle, Pa., and wanting to perfect her technique.

Holding onto walls and using cones for balance quickly became old, and lessons soon followed, she explained.

Among Ali’s more immediate goals are to “do all the moves perfectly” and advance to freestyle, the next level, she said.

Adding a few moves to her growing repertoire also is on the girl’s radar screen, she said.

“I’m hoping someday soon I can do an axel,” she added. An axel is a figure-skating jump in which takeoff is on a forward, outside edge.

After the jump, the skater makes 1 Ω revolutions before landing with the other foot on a back, outside edge, while skating backward.

“She was a born performer,” said Ali’s mother, Vicki, adding that her daughter was pivotal in Vicki’s decision to skate during the First Night Youngstown event a few weeks ago.

Also accompanying Ali was her father, Eric.

Seven-year-old twins Kaylie and Kylie Barber of Volant, Pa., weren’t shy about donning bright-yellow outfits and showing their talents to the audience of about 100.

The girls started skating at age 3 and, a year later, were in their first competition, noted their mother, Lori.

One of the events both youngsters took part in was stroking, which concentrates on form, poise and technique, she explained.

“We’re very excited,” said Kaylie.

Among those in the audience were Bob and Lorna Hodgson, who are members of the local skating club. They are 85 and 81, respectively.

The Jamestown, Pa., couple, who started skating again in their mid- to late-60s, performed freestyle in an adult championship event last October in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Both said they skate at least once a week and love the exercise they get from the sport, as well as the opportunities to interact with people of all ages.

They had nothing but praise for their coach, Maria Koman, who’s also the local skating club’s director.

“I wouldn’t be skating if not for her,” Bob Hodgson said. “Skating can build muscle, balance and concentration at any age.”

“My posture is good,” Lorna Hodgson added. “We’ve just had so much fun in our older years because of [skating].”

Another benefit the sport has for many young people is teaching valuable life skills and virtues such as time management, perseverance, dedication and social skills, Koman noted.

The local competition is approved by the Ice Skating Industry, a nonprofit trade association that represents all aspects of the ice- arena industry, she noted.

IF YOU GO

The free ice-skating competition continues today at the Covelli Centre in downtown Youngstown.

What: Skating Club of Greater Youngstown’s free skating competition. Events to include eight freestyle-level competitions, solo and couple warm-ups and performances, jump and spin routines, synchronized formations and awards to top teams.

Who: More than 100 participants on six local and regional teams.

When: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today.

Source: Skating Club of Greater Youngstown